Our View: Avoiding the college debt bubble

Now more than ever, students entering college need to be smart about their futures after school. A report released last week by the Institute for College Access and Success said 66 percent of 2012 Massachusetts college graduates had student-loan debt. The average debt was a a whopping $28,460. The national average is $29,400,...

As high school seniors rush to meet January college application deadlines, there are a few points parents and students should consider beyond the acceptance letter.

Now more than ever, students entering college need to be smart about their futures after school. A report released last week by the Institute for College Access and Success said 66 percent of 2012 Massachusetts college graduates had student-loan debt. The average debt was a a whopping $28,460. The national average is $29,400, according to the report, and if the past four years are any indication, families can expect the figure to rise by 6 percent each year.

That's the bad news.

The good news? Since 1990, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education has offered students a way to offset the cost of a college education through the Commonwealth Transfer Compact. It allows those students who earn an associate degree at a community college to automatically transfer to one of the state's participating colleges and universities, including the flagship the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

This allows those students to save thousands of dollars by completing core requirements at a much cheaper community college and then receive a 33 percent reduction in tuition costs at the state school of their choice. Sure, certain minimum requirements must be met, such as a 2.0 grade point average, but it's a way for families to avoid incurring even more student-loan debt.

Considering the average 2.9 percent increase in tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities in 2013-14 — far less than the 4.5 percent for 2011-12 — this is good news. Especially since the net price is higher because financial aid hasn't kept pace with the cost of living.

But on to more good news for those wanting to attend college.

The state Department of Higher Education predicts that schools within the commonwealth will, by 2020, graduate 73,000 fewer graduates with degrees in health care, business and finance, and science- and math-related fields than will be needed to fill the expected job market. College students should regard this as an opportunity. By studying what the need will be in the coming years, they can focus their studies to ensure that they are more likely to be hired upon graduation.

Certainly there will be those whose interests in say, theater or French, pull them in other directions, but there's no reason not to expand one's opportunities for success by having a double major.

As recent colleges graduates can attest, the job market isn't exactly robust, and those student-loan notices keep coming in. And they can't be discharged through personal bankruptcy either.

By being strategic, many can avoid having the much-predicted student-loan debt bubble from bursting their dreams for their futures.